Smack me with a proverbial hammer...

1. 59

   Rustedwhoposted 12 years ago

   I have recently gotten a few reviews of my hubs and they mostly say I am doing well. This is not what I am looking for. I need a blunt full blown smack in the face with my writing. Many of my articles are sitting in the 60's and currently I have no idea if this is based off writing skill. I've read many good articles and have tried many suggestions already, so im looking more for writing based issues. Let the hammer come down! Thanks everyone!

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   1. 81

      agilitymachposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      OK.  Smacking away!!!
      
      I read the geocaching hub.  As I know only a little about the subject, I was a good person to read it.
      
      First off, the "lead" needs to be smaller and more precise.  It kind of dragged on with "get your kids out of the house...into the woods...exercising...taking photographs, etc."  I'd recommend narrowing it down a bit.
      
      After reading it, I still don't understand what a travel bug or geo coin is or how they work.
      
      The section with bullets was a huge help.
      
      I thought the article wound up nicely.
      
      Visually, it could use a bit more impact.  Perhaps more pictures?  How about pictures of your family going on a geocache?

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   2. 78

      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Remember, you asked for it.  I skimmed your hubs, with the following observations:
      
      Most were quite short - four or five hundred words is, in my opinion, marginal.  Workable and useful, yes, but marginal.  Get some 1000+ word hubs out there - 1000 informative words without fluff (not saying you have fluff, but don't fluff a hub just to get words, either).
      
      HP provides a variety of capsules for a reason - use them.  Get some photos (preferably original ones, but correctly attributed ones if not) in there.  Maybe a video here and there.  Stick a sidebar text capsule in once in a while.  Maybe a quiz or poll.  Anything to break up long text sections and keep a reader occupied and on site for longer periods.
      
      Be very leery of "part one" and "part two" hubs, particularly with very similar titles.  Google doesn't like similar titles in general and I don't think readers like being shuttled to another page to finish the article.  If there is too much information (as in 3000+ words) for one hub, split it up, but do not make part one and part two titles.
      
      Even recipe hubs simply must be over the 200 words you have.  Either get rid of them or provide something more - history, perhaps, or alternative methods.
      
      Amazon capsules are very seldom effective placed at the end of a hub.  If you use them, make the products specific to what the hub is discussing.  If the hub is about aloe vera, push the plant or seed - not a book -  and put the capsule right next to where you discuss the product.  Gaining amazon sales is not a haphazard coincidence - you must be a salesman and give the reader a reason to buy.
      
      I found a (very) few grammar or spelling errors, but they could use a once over one more time anyway. 
      
      Information is good as far as it went - there just usually needs to be more of it. 
      
      I did not check the "searchability" of your titles or keywords, but if you are not using the google keyword tool, be sure you do.
      
      You asked....

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      1. 59

         Rustedwhoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Excellent write up, I will begin working on this tonight. Question about videos though, can they be someone elses videos or must they be my own? This part has confused me. Thank you very much!

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         1. 78

            wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Absolutely!  You can embed you tube videos using the video capsule HP provides.  Just fill in the blanks.

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2. 59

   Rustedwhoposted 12 years ago

   Just posted a new hub all about saving while going green. I've tried to use the advice already given. Can anyone provide some feedback? Thanks yall!

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   1. 68

      Helena Rickettsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Rustedwho,
      
      I just read your hub on Going Green and I thought it looked OK.  I'd remove the exclamation marks from the Amazon capsules and attribute the last photo but other than that, I didn't see anything that made me go "eww." 
      
      I popped into your Deviled Egg recipe.  You need photos for recipe hubs to hold people's interest.  It also needs to be a lot longer.  More dialogue.  I would use the "manly deviled egg" approach since I'm guessing you are a man from your profile pic?  I'd use that angle if I could because it's not a common approach to deviled eggs, but that's just my opinion.  If you want to see what I'm talking about, jump over to my hub that I posted today about How to Cook Chicken Offal and see what I mean by dialog and lots of photos.  People and Google like lots of pretty pictures and lots of talkin'!
      
      You can use any YouTube video in your hubs.  It doesn't have to be yours and you don't have to cite them.
      
      I hope that helps!

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